Live
by Rae Maxwell
Summary: William is severely beaten and humiliated in front of the rest of the crew, a short fic centered around the even and reactions immediately after it.


LIVE  
  
Fanfiction: Pirates of the Caribbean  
Characters: Anamaria, Will Turner  
Comments: I wanted to write a non-graphic, non sensational fic of this  
type. Those zombies were acting so creepy, I swear, it was disgusting.  
  
---------------  
  
"You disgusting sea-snakes." Gibbs growled as the pirate slammed  
William's cell door shut behind him. The overweight pirate narrowed his  
eyes. "Watch out old-man, or I might come in and do the same to you."  
"I'd like to see you try!" Gibbs retorted automatically.  
The guard smirked. "Oh, I barely had to try. It was easy." He said,  
turning away. "Any other ladies on your crew that I should know about?"  
he laughed over his shoulder, as he headed up the stairs toward the deck.  
  
Gibbs stared after the brutal guard for a moment before turning back to  
the boy in the other cell. Anamaria was already there, reaching through  
the bars of the cage-like cell toward William. "Hey, Will, look at me!"  
she ordered. "Come on Will, don't pass out on me! If you do, Captain  
Jack'll give you a hiding for falling asleep on the job! You don't want  
that now do you?" she threatened desperately. William didn't move, Gibbs  
watched him with growing concern. "How could that." he struggled to find  
a word that expressed the hatred and revulsion he felt, but couldn't find  
one. ".bastard do that to the boy?"  
Anamaria watched William's unmoving body grimly. "All too easily."  
"But you can't do that to a man, can you?" Gibbs whispered, trying not to  
believe in spite of what he had seen.  
"It makes no difference." The woman responded sharply. "Now close your  
mouth. He doesn't need to hear about such things right now."  
Gibbs turned to look at the other members of the crew, but none of them  
would meet his eyes, and he knew that not a single man in that cell would  
offer to help their fallen shipmate. He turned back to Anamaria, "It's  
just you and me lass." He sighed. "What should we do?"  
"How in all the hells should I know?" she growled. "Why am I suddenly the  
expert?" she demanded angrily.  
"They wouldn't kill him. They need him alive to free them from the  
curse."  
"They need his blood, they never said they needed him alive." The woman  
corrected, and blood there was plenty of. A tiny trickle falling from the  
corner of his mouth, passing over his rapidly bruising cheek. His face  
and body were bruised from the beating he had taken bravely before it had  
happened. The other areas, where the most damage had been done, were  
covered in blood, it flowed from his abused skin, staining his clothes in  
great red, terrifying seas.  
"No, Barbossa would never allow it."  
"He's not going to die." Anamaria stated. "Will! Wake up you lazy  
bastard! Look at me!"  
  
Long after sunset, Anamaria leaned sleepily against the bars of the cell,  
her eyes half-closed. She was on watch. They couldn't afford to be caught  
off guard by anything while trapped in this cage by their enemies.  
  
William hadn't moved, but he seemed to be breathing. She watched his  
chest rise and fall gently, and wondered what he was thinking. If the  
undead pirate had wanted to hurt him, to break his captain's prisoner  
then he had done his job. She had only known one person before in her  
life who had been subjected to this kind of abuse, and the woman had  
killed herself only a few months after the attack.  
  
It had been Anamaria's best friend growing up, they had shared dreams of  
running away together and joining a pirate crew. She was to be the queen  
of pirates and Anamaria the king.  
Unfortunately it was not to be, soon after her sixteenth birthday  
Anamaria's friend had slipped away from a party with a young man she was  
quite fond of. He attacked her in the woods behind the path.  
  
She hadn't dared tell anyone but Anamaria what had happened and the man  
continued seeking her affections like nothing had happened. She however,  
was a broken woman from that moment on. She woke with nightmares and  
often hid for days at a time in her room. She refused to let men touch  
her and panicked if she was alone with one. The woman was ashamed of what  
had happened, blaming herself no matter how Anamaria had tried to comfort  
her.  
  
What was passing through William's mind? Would a man simply shrug it off?  
Put it down as another scar and be done with it? Or would it be worse?  
  
"Ana."  
  
The woman turned around, pulling herself up the bars until she could see  
William clearly. "So, sleeping beauty is awake at last?" she said, hiding  
her relief at finally seeing him open his eyes.  
  
"What happened?" he asked weakly.  
  
"You don't remember?" she asked. "Well, perhaps it's best you don't."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You got a bad beating from that sniveling sea-snake of a guard." She  
said. He gazed at her with half-closed eyes, too weak to really register  
his situation. He closed his eyes for a moment, resting, before lifting  
his head in an attempt to sit up from his position on the floor where the  
guard had left him. He grimaced letting out a small moan as his wounds  
protested the movement.  
  
Anamaria bit her lip in sympathy but said nothing.  
  
Will lay back on the floor, his eyes settling on her. His cheek had  
swelled and his lip had been split open, mangling his face, but his eyes  
told of a fear and anger that she had never seen in him before. "I've  
taken beatings before. I'll live." He said.  
  
Anamarie nodded.  
  
"Did they see?" he asked. Perhaps he did remember after all.  
  
Another nod.  
  
He closed his eyes and turned away from her. "I'll live." He repeated. 


End file.
